Chauvinists

From RFE newsline:

AMBASSADOR SAYS RUSSIA WILL 'NEVER GIVE UP' INTERESTS INTRANSDNIESTER. Russian Ambassador to Moldova Nikolai Ryabov said onApril 12 that Moscow "will never give up its interests" in thebreakaway Transdniester region, "where it has been present for morethan a century," Interfax reported the same day. Ryabov said inTransdniester's capital Tiraspol that Russians "rest in thecemeteries there. A huge part of our history belongs to this region."Ryabov also said that Moscow plans to push for an end to new customsregulations on the Transdniester section of the Moldovan-Ukrainianborder. Moldova and Ukraine implemented the new rules in March aspart of an effort to combat smuggling (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March6, 7, and 8, 2006). "We will certainly be able to find a way out ofthe crisis through joint efforts. Moscow will push for the end of theeconomic blockade of [Transdniester]," he said. "Russia will notallow anybody to dictate terms in the [Transdniester] settlementprocess. Moscow will demand that those standing behind this economicblockade abandon their policies." BW